The past six weeks of Mick's being human had been the happiest of Beth's life and now, suddenly, they were back to square one. Where there had once been talk of traveling and seeing the world together, now there was no question of that happening. They had even spoken of marriage ... of starting a family. Beth felt her flat stomach with an aching pang.
All of those glittering possible futures were now gone and she was facing some rather nasty truths about herself. For she no longer feared a fiery death, rather, to her great humiliation, it was of a lonely death of old age while he remained youthful ... and eternal.
It was not that she would have preferred his death at the hands of Dr. Anders. No, of course not, and once again she was indebted to him for her life. Beth couldn't imagine the courage it had taken for him to do such a thing.
Yet, after the re-siring, it was as if Mick were born anew, a stronger, more confident vampire ... which was wonderful in a way ... but still a vampire. He had withdrawn from her, moving back into the penthouse ... and into his freezer rather than her bed.
At least she no longer had to worry about his human vulnerability ... no, now it was that he would become too confident and overexpose himself. Take this new client he had recently added on: reviewing the security for starlet Tierney Taylor.
She had been having lunch with Ben Talbott at a trendy restaurant when he pulls up as the passenger in Tierney's $120,000 Lamborghini. The press mobbed them and suddenly he became known as Tierney's new "hottie".
Granted, he had seen her and looked suitably aggravated at her lunch companion. It was a harmless meal for Ben simply wanted to talk about their mutual experience. Once again, she had had to act dumb on how they had been rescued. Thank God he hadn't pursued it further, no doubt due to most of the forensic evidence being missing.
She idly wondered how much The Cleaner charged? Was it per each victim, by the scene or by the hour? Whichever, it surely must have cost Josef an arm and a leg.
She started to drink some water and almost snorted it out into her glass. She saw Mick glance over and seeing her distress, immediately left the starlet to come over to her.
Suddenly she was feeling much better.
